No bargaining on request for immunity for Napoles’ children — counsel

Napoles family at daughter Jeane’s birthday party.

MANILA — The camp of Janet Lim Napoles on Saturday said that they are not offering anything for the Department of Justice (DOJ) so as not to implicate the children of Napoles in the pork barrel and Malampaya Fund scams.

Napoles is the alleged “brains” behind the P10-billion pork barrel and the P900-million Malampaya Fund scams.

According to Atty. Bruce Rivera, counsel of Napoles, it was merely a request of a loving mother to her children and that nothing will change in the “tell all testimony” of his client.

Rivera also clarified that the withdrawal of the existing cases such as the tax evasion case against the youngest daughter of Napoles was not included in the request.

Benhur Luy, the prime whistleblower in the pork barrel and the Malampaya Fund scams, earlier accused the children of Napoles, namely Jo Christine and James Christopher who allegedly forged the signatures of the “ghost beneficiaries” of the Malampaya Fund and other liquidated documents.

According to Luy, when Napoles was out of their house, Christine was the one receiving the money intended for the fake non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of her mother.

Luy said that the youngest daughter, Jeane is now facing tax evasion case after it was discovered that she allegedly owns an expensive condominium unit in Los Angeles, California, United States although she has no clear source of income.

The camp of Napoles is now preparing the draft letter for Justice Secretary Leila M. De Lima for such a request, after the submission of which, they will await for the reaction of the DOJ Chief.

Napoles earlier asked for immunity for herself, however, it is still being evaluated by De Lima.